Father will draw you to him
May 15
Posted by Barry in Daily Devotion, Daily Thought | No Comments | Edit
John 6: 44“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[d] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.
The first thing that really strikes me when I read this passage of Scripture is where Jesus says that no-one can come to him unless the Father draws him. If you read this it is possible to think well in that case where is our free will? One thing I have learnt about grace is that even though God has given us so many things through grace, such as forgiveness of sins, not everyone automatically receives this. I know that Jesus wants everyone to be saved. But the Bible clearly shows us even from yesterday’s study that not everyone who spends time studying the Scriptures automatically gets to know God. In fact it was Nicodemus who was one of the most religious men in Israel who came to Jesus and said “what must I do to enter the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus told him that “you must be born again.” Now we know that Jesus has by grace already provided us with salvation through the shedding of his blood. This was given to us through the grace of God. However we have to use our free will to accept the forgiveness for our sins and have a personal relationship with God through Jesus.
So here Jesus says no one can come to him unless father draws him to him. But the secret is given in verse 45 where Jesus says “everyone who listens to the father and learns from him comes to me”. In other words Jesus is saying that when we listen we will have faith to come to God. We know that the word says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. How can you hear unless you listen first? To Jesus is teaching a very crucial lesson that we need to spend time listening to the word of God because as we listen and do the will of God, so faith will rise up. And when our faith rises up and we will be drawn by the Holy Spirit to Jesus.
From earlier on in the book of John in one of my studies during the past week you will recall that people asked Jesus “what must we do to do the will or the work of God?” And Jesus responded to them and told them that “if you want to do the work of God you must simply believe in me.” There is more to believing that simply acknowledging that Jesus is God. I think that believing means really putting one’s trust in him and that means there must be fruit, and evidence of a life change. If you say that you have come to Christ but nothing has changed in your life, then the way that I read the word of God I would seriously have to question whether you are right or not. That is surely food for thought.
Tags: come to jesus, hear the word, listen